Rail-joint.



W. K. ANDERSON.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATHON FILED APR.2B, 1915.

1, 1&7,912. Patented July 27,1915.

WILLIAM K. ANDERSON, OF COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO.

RAIL-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27,1915.

Application filed Apri128, 1915. Serial No. 24,553.

wherein a member is provided which engages the base of two abutting rails and holds saidrails in alinement.

The primary object of my invention is the provision of a very simple joint of this char acter which may be cheaply made and which will be particularly efiective in holding the rails in alinement and which will also act to support the rails at the joint and prevent one of the rails from being deflected downward relative to the other rail.

A further object of the invention is to i provide a joint of this character which may be readily attached to or detached from the rails and 'still another object is to provide a joint of this character which, while holding the rails in vertical alinement with each other, will permit the rails to move bodily to accommodate expansion and contraction of the rails.

Still another ob ect is to provide a joint of such a simple character and so easily applied that it may be used for mine railroads.

My invention is illustrated in. the accompanying drawings wherein;

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rail and rail chair constructed in accordance with my invention, the chair being partly in section, and the splice bar being broken away; Fig. 2 is atransverse section of the joint.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

and is formed with the upwardly and in.

My invention relates to rail jointsand particularly to that character of rail ]01I1tw'ardly inclined face 11. This chair is also provided with the transversely extending passages 12, there being preferably four passages altogether, two passages beneath each rail. These passages are relatively wide as shown in Fig. 1 and the passages are so disposed that the bases of the rails intersect them. Adapted to be disposed within these passages are the wedges 13.

These wedges are preferably flat upon the bottom, slightly inclined upon the top, and the upper face of the wedge is preferably formed with upwardly extending ribs 1 1. The end of each wedge is preferably formed with a head 15. The wedges it will be seen are narrower than the width of the openings 12 so that the wedges may have lateral movement relative to the openings. When these wedges are driven into place the toothed or ribbed upper faces of the wedges will bite against the under face of the base of the, rail and the wedges will be thus locked to the rail and as a consequence will move with the rail as it expands or contracts, this movement beingpermitted by the wedges being smaller than the openings 12 as previously stated.

In order to lock the rails within the chair from longitudinal movement relative to each other I provide a splice bar 16. This splice bar is formed to fit between the web 4 of .the rail and the adjacent inclined face 11. of

signed to fit within the openings 6 formed in the web of the rail.

With the parts as above described it is obvious that two abutting rails will be looked securely to each other and to the chair which supports the abutting ends of the rails. In placing the parts in position the chair is first disposed upon one of the rails and shifted to a position inward of theend of the rail. The other rail is then abutted against the first named rail and the splice bar is put in place whereupon the chair is shifted along the rail until it engages firmly with the splice bar, forcing it firmly against the webv of the rail.- After this the wedges 13 are'driven home, looking all the parts together. In orderto hold the wedges from accidental detachment I may provide the locking member 18 which is formed of a strip of metal disposed along the under face of each wedge, this strip being bent up at one end as at 19 against the head of the wedge and its other end being bent downward as at against the side of thechair. It will, of course, be plain that this locking strip 18 will hold the wedges securely in place against accidental detachinentl It is to be nirticularly noted, as shown in Fig. 3:3, that the space between the rail seat 8 and the under face of the flange 5) is less than. the space between the seat 8 and the under face of the flange 10. This difference is of crmsiderable importance in the practical. use of my construction. Before the wedge members '13 are inserted, the space between the upwardly inclined face 11 of flange 10 and the face of the web 4. will be greater than the thickness of the splice bar, thus permitting the splice bar and rail to be readily inserted in place. Now when the wedges 13 are driven into place they will force the chair down relative to the rail and the inclined face 11 will force the rail and splic bar laterally. The base of the rail will be forced against the chair at 8, and as the space between the flange 10 and the seat is deeper than between the flange 9 and the seat the adjacent edge of the rail base 3 Will spring upward, thus binding the rail and chair tightly together for holdirig the rails in alinement.

While mydevice is adapted. for use on railway tracks and in like situations, it is also particularly adapted to be used on mine tracks. In this case ordinary track spikes may be used for the wedges.

llaving described my invention What I claim is:

1. In a rail joint, abutting rails having transverse perforations in their webs, a chair supporting the rails at the joint and having upwardly extending flanges, a rail engaging member disposed between one of said flanges and the web of the rails, and transversely extending passages formed in the chair beneath the base the rail, said locking members having engagement with the base of the rail.

9. In a rail joint, abutting rails, a rail chair disposed beneath 'the joint between said rails and having upwardly extending flanges, a splice bar disposed between one of said flanges and the web of the rail and having interlocking engagement with the web of the rail, and wedges extending transversely through the chair and beneath the base of the rail, each wedge having longitudinally extending teeth upon its upper surface adapted to bite into the rail.

3. In a rail joint, abutting rails, each formed at one end with transversely extending perforations. a rail chair extending beneath said rails at their joint and hav- 1ng upwardly and inwardly extending angulocking members extending through lar flanges adapted to embrace the base of the rail, a splice bar disposed between one of said flanges and the web of the rail and having inwardly extending pins adapted to be disposed in the perforations in the rail web, the chair being formed with trans versely extending passages intersecting the upper face of the chair, and wedges driven through said passages and engaging the under face of the rail base, said wedges having a width less than the length of said passages whereby the wedges may be shifted upon the expansion or contraction of the rails.

4. In a rail joint, a chair having oppositely disposed overhanging flanges adapted to engage the base member disposed between one of the overhanging flanges and the web of the rail and resting upon the base flange thereof, and means for forcing a rail supported in the chair upward against the flanges to simultaneously raise said wedging member to thereby wedge the rail laterally within the chair and lock it in engagement therewith.

5. In a rail joint the combination with abutting rails having perforations in their webs, of a chair adapted to support said rails at the joint thereof and formed with upwardly and inwardly extending flanges adapted to embrace the base of the rails, one of said flanges being formed with an upwardly and inwardly inclined face, bar having a downwardly and outwardly inclined outer face adapted to be'disposed between said flange and the web of the rail and having studs projecting into the perforations in the rail web, the chair being formed with transversely extending pas-' sages intersecting the upper face of the chair, and wedges driven into said passages and engaging the base of the 'rail, said wedges having longitudinally extending teeth'upon their upper faces, the width of the wedges being less than the width of the passages.

6. In a rail joint, abutting rails, a chair supporting the rails at the joint and having inwardly turned base engaging flanges,

' said chair being formed with a plurality of transversely extending passages intersecting the upper face of the chair, wedges driven into said passages and engagingthe base of a rail, and means for holdingthe wedges in place comprising a metallic strip disposed in each passage beneath-the corresponding wedge, one end of the strip being turned down to engage the chair, and the other end of the strip being bent to engage the head of the wedge.

7. In a rail joint the combination with a rail, of a chair adapted to support the rail and having an upwardly and inwardly extending flange, the inner face of said flange being downwardly and outwardly inclined, a rail engaging member disposed between of a rail, a wedgingr a splice f passages extending below and intersecting the seat, rail engaging members disposed in said passages and adapted to urge the rail upward in a space against the flanges, a splice bar adapted to be disposed between one of said flanges and the rail, the adjacent face of the splice bar and said flange being upwardly and inwardly extended, the space between said seat and the adjacent face of the splice bar engaging flange being greater than the space between said seat and the adjacent face of the opposite flange whereby to cause a tipping of the rail upon the insertion of said rail engaging members and the locking of the splice bar and rail to the chair.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

\VILLIAM K. ANDERSON. \Vitnesses J. R. YOUNG, JOHN P. WonDEN. 

